Lingua Franca is a blog dedicated to promote traditional family values and share information about technology, photography, literature, humor and other social issues.

Cool Light Photography

I just learned a new photography term on a Web site I use called Photobucket. The term is Bokeh. Bokeh refers to blurred areas of a photo where only a certain portion of the image is in focus. It’s a very unique and beautiful effect that’s fun to experiment with. The holidays are a great time to experiment with Bokeh with all the fun festive lights hung up.

Here are some tips on how to create a Bokeh effect:

Make sure the room you are shooting is dark and not too bright to get a better effect.

Turn off your flash (the lightning bolt looking icon flash-icon ).

Select the Macro setting (the flower looking icon on your camera, see macro tutorial for more info.)

Stand a few feet away from some lights. (Any kind of holiday lights work well).

Hold your finger out in front of your camera and hold the shutter button down halfway so your finger is in focus. (Remember not to press the shutter button all the way down.)

Now your camera is focused on the object in front of you and the lights are blurred in the back. Take your finger away from the shot and press the shutter button all the way down.

After your pull your finger out of the frame, play around with the zoom on your camera to adjust the size of the Bokeh. The more you zoom in, the larger the circles will be.

With these simple instructions, you can turn out beautiful Christmas photos that will water the mouths of your friends and relatives this Christmas. I told you; photography is cool!

Below is an example of a bokeh full of blurred bright Christmas lights:

I hear ya. The only way to learn how wetness feels, is to go out under the rain. Walking the walk in photography is the way to go. That’s what I’m doing. Some picture look better than others, but the learning process continues.

But let me tell you Michael, the process is what makes you feel alive discovering the world under a new set of eyes. Photography, in my opinion, is making the camera—an inert machine—an extension of the human heart and mind.